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Chapter Text

Rain was pouring from the sky and a small child was running through a woodland, a young boy dressed in a yellow t-shirt, overalls with short bluish brown hair who kept constantly looking over his shoulder like he was making sure that no one was following him. The little boy was called Manny and he had been recently living with two of his friends and from time to time there would be a variety of teachers paying visits to the three to teach them about different things, the lessons starting of fun and innocent before turning into a hellish nightmare but now that one had mysterious vanished and the having their organs harvested and forced fed to the young child, the teachers insisted that they move into the house that Manny shared with his two old friends to ensure that he doesn't leave and now he was running for his life, having escaped when the teachers became distracted.

The rain had made the child's clothes soaked to his skin and his nose began to dribble, he even let out a couple of coughs and his throat was beginning to feel scratchy but he didn't care, he just wanted to get away from the people that traumatised him and find his friend, the one who had managed to escape.

"Manny, where are you, come out, don't be scared, we'll have lots of fun and be creative."

Manny almost stumbled as he heard the voice of one of his teachers calling out to him before it became apparent that all of them where searching for the scared child as more and more of their voices echoed throughout the woods.

"This is isn't the time to be mucking around Manny, show yourself?"

Manny decided that it would now be a good idea to hide and began desperately searching for one as he heard them getting nearer and nearer, calling out to him causing the child to place his hand over his ears, wishing that they would just leave, leave him be.

"No need to be afraid dear one, you'll be lonely if you don't come back, come back with us Manny and I promise you'll never be alone."

The boy kept his hands over his ears, falling to his knees as the rain drenched clothes made his body feel cold and too weak to even try searching for a hiding place, also, he was beginning to feel feverish and sleepy so he laid down on the ground and curled up in a ball hoping that they wouldn't find him but he could still hear them, calling him.

"Come on Manny, you're missing out on some digital dancing, we'll do lots of digital dancing if you come back with us."

"Manny, if you come back, we will show you how to eat healthy and not eat stuff that makes your teeth go grey." Feeling more and more sleepy and feverish, Manny knew that he was too weak to even carry on running so he just closed his eyes, letting out a handful of coughs as he heard footsteps approaching, getting closer and closer until they stopped.

"There you are, come along now, we've got so much to do and so little time." The teacher who had found the weak and feverish child waited for him to get up but was beginning to get impatient when the small figure laying curled up on the ground barely moved an inch.

"I don't know exactly what kind of game you are playing but this isn't the time or place to be mucking around so get yourself up from the floor right now." The boy still didn't move, he was too weak to even to do so with a sigh of annoyance, whoever had found him grabbed hold of him and turned the nearly unconscious child onto his back only to see the current state he was in and it wasn't long before the rest of the teachers had arrived.

"Well Tony,looks like you found him then" a girl with multicoloured hair and wearing a white dress said "where did you find him, was he hiding?"

"No he was lying on the ground like he is now" Tony replied, pointing to the child who lay still on the ground, eyes closed and chest slowly rising, a small wheezing sound emitting from his mouth just as the rest of the teachers arrived "I don't know what he is playing out but he's making a fool of himself just laying on the ground in the middle of the woods in this weather." The girl teacher, Paige walked over to the small figure laying on the ground, knelt beside the boy and put her hand on his forehead.

"I don't think he's feeling too good, he feels like he has a fever or something" she informed.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised, being out at this time of night and in this weather too" Tony implied as Manny whimpered, curling up again. The child could feel his head burning and his whole body ached and he knew that he wasn't going to get away, the teachers had found him and he was too weak to even sit up so it would be easy for them to bring him back to the house. The boy groaned in responses he felt someone take hold of him and lift him up from the ground, his head drooping on their shoulders but he did not see who had picked him up as he still had his eyes closed but he knew that his attempt to escape and find his lost friends had failed when the teachers made their way back to the house with Manny, the chilld being unaware of what lay in store for him.

Chapter Text

As he slowly began to wake up, Manny could feel himself laying in what felt like a bed and also, he had never felt so awful in his entire young life, his whole body ached, his head was burning and his throat had never felt so sore. As he slowly opened his eyes, he tried to remember what had happened during the past few hours, he recalled himself running through the woods after escaping from the house where he was going to be forced to live with the teachers that had appeared to him and his two missing friends, giving them lessons which ended in something that would fit well in a horror movie but it had been heavily raining outside and it had made him fall sick so he was unable to get away and his weakened state meant that it was much easier for the teachers to bring him back to the house after they found him and that was where he must be now, back at the house. The child began to have a coughing fit and he felt someone take hold of him and turn him on his side before they began patting his back.

"Go on, let it all out" whoever had turned the child on his side said "better out than in I say." After he had finished coughing, Manny laid on his back again with his eyes closed but he could now feel whoever was with him running their fingers through his sweat covered hair brought on by the fever.

"All done now?" they asked and Manny gave a weak nod "you're still burning up though, I think you need to have your temperature taken." Manny felt the person get up and leave so he drifted off to sleep again for a few moments only to be gently shook awake again.

"Now I need to put this thermometer in your mouth for a minute to check your temperature" the speaker instructed and with his eyes half open and his vision blurred, Manny saw a figure sitting beside his bed place the thermometer in his mouth "now I need you to leave it there for a few seconds." The feverish child drifted in and out until the thermometer was removed from his mouth before falling unconscious again.

"Dear oh dear, it seems you have a pretty high fever my child, eighty point nine degrees, looks like you'll be bed ridden for quite a while until you're well enough to get up again."

Meanwhile downstairs, Tony, Paige and Colin where in the front room, discussing on what they should do to prevent Manny from trying to escape again.

"Well I don't think the boy will be going anywhere any time soon" Tony implied "I think he'll be bedridden for a while with that nasty fever he caught, he was very foolish, trying to escape in the middle of the night and whilst it was pouring it with rain too."

"Why would he ever try to leave?" Paige wondered "doesn't he know that we just wanted to have some fun with him." As the group continued discussing about Manny's attempt to escape and what they should do to prevent him from ever trying to escape again, the door opened and in walked another one of the teachers.

" Shrignold, I thought you were keeping an eye on the boy" Tony implied "is he awake yet?"

"Well the child began to stir a little when I was taking his temperature, the poor dear has a pretty high fever of eighty point nine degrees" the butterfly like man informed "if you want me to continue keeping an eye on him then I can do that, it wouldn't be right after all to leave him alone, especially if he is unwell, no one should ever be alone."

"If that is what you believe" Tony replied as he leaned back in the armchair, his fingers pressed together "but I think we should ask the boy his reasons for trying to escape."

"You could try but he's not even fully awake yet" Shrignold implied "if you go up there now and question the child about why he tried escaping, I think you should wait until he's more fully awake because I don't think he'll be able to provide a straight answer right now, not if he's too delirious."

"Well I'm not waiting around, we must find out why he tried getting away" Tony replied as he got up from his chair and headed to the front room door before turning to face the other teachers "now are you all coming with me or shall I question the boy on my own?" The rest of the teachers agreed to come along because they also wanted to find out Manny's reasons for trying to escape and when they reached the boy's room, they found him in the same place they had left him when they brought him back, that place being his bed and the boy stirred as the four teachers gathered round his bed and he slowly opened his eyes to find Tony standing at the foot of his bed, arms folded.

"So, finally decided to wake up have you?" he asked the child who was clearly still feverish and slightly confused "you know we came up here to try and wake you up, find out as to why you attempted to run away but it seems that you've saved us the trouble." Paige helped Manny sit up as Tony sat on the edge of his bed and began to question him about trying to escape earlier that evening.

"What where your reasons then?" Tony questioned as Manny grimaced and placed a hand on his burning head which didn't go unnoticed "you're still burning up I gather, well I'm not surprised you're feeling unwell after being out in the middle of the night and whilst it's raining" he then told Paige to get a wet cloth and when she returned, she placed it on the boy's head and the coldness brought some relief to his burning head.

"Is that better sweetie?" Paige asked in a sickly sweet voice and Manny gave a small weak nod before answering the question that Tony had asked him.

"I miss my friends" he replied with a few coughs "I wanted to go find them."

"You're friends?" Tony scoffed "you mean the ones who left this place and just left you behind, well correct me if i'm wrong my dear boy but I don't believe they're your real friends if they just left you behind."

"No, you're lying" Manny replied weakly "they wouldn't do that, they wouldn't just leave me." Tony chuckled and leaned close to the boy in a rather intimidating manner.

"Well it appears that they have my dear boy" he told the weak and feverish child "so I wouldn't bother looking for them anytime soon if I was you. They just left and abandoned you in this place, now if those are what you call friends then you are very much mistaken." As Manny tried to get his head around what was being said to him, the boy pulled his knees up to his chin and couldn't believe what was being said, he didn't want to believe it but Tony sounded pretty convincing.

"I can't believe they would leave me" he whispered "I thought they where my friends."

"Now don't be sad little one" Shrignold said, pulling Manny into a hug "we will never leave you."

"He's right you know" Colin replied "we're you're real friends Manny, we won't ever abandon you."

"That's right sweetie" Paige added, stroking the child's cheek "that is why we don't want you to leave, you can trust us, we're you're true friends."

"You're not lying to me are you?" Manny questioned "this isn't all a big trick is it?"

"If it was then we would have abandoned you too, just like those two imbeciles who pretended to be your friends" said Tony "we would have left you out there in the rain with that horrible fever you have, not you bring you back here and put you to bed so you can recover."

"I was just feeling lonely, after when they went away" Manny replied as sleep began to take it's toll on his small body "I felt lonely."

"Well not anymore, because you got us now and we're not going anywhere" Paige told the young boy "we've always been here for you Manny and we always will be."

"That's right my child, you will never be alone ever again" Shrignold replied as Manny gave a weak nod, eyes beginining to flutter which didn't go unnoticed by Tony.

"Are you wanting to sleep some more?" he asked the young child who gave another weak nod before his eyes closed shut "Shrignold, you can let go of the boy now." Shrignold nodded and released his grip on the now sleeping child and gently layed him down on the bed before the teachers got up and left the room.

"Well now that he believes that those two fools who escaped this world were never really his friends, he won't even dare try and escape again" Tony informed as he glanced over at the small sleeping figure in the bedroom.

"So what happens now?" Paige asked.

"It's simple" Tony replied " we continue to convince the brat that we're his real friends and that he can trust us that he won't even think about leaving, we'll keep him here for the rest of his life." The teachers then looked over at the sick child who lay sleeping in his bed, unaware that he had been tricked by them and they all had a sinister expression on their faces as the plan to keep the boy forever was slowly coming into place.

Chapter Text

A few hours had passed by and Manny was beginning to stir again, slowly opening his eyes to see that daylight was now shining through the window but the brightness was bothering his sore eyes and also his head was still burning a little. The boy groaned and covered his eyes with his arm as he slowly pushed his aching body up into a sitting position.

"Good morning little one, it's nice to see that you're finally awake" someone took hold of Manny's arm and gently pulled it away from his face and sitting right there in front of him was Shrignold "so, how are you feeling my child?"

"My head and throat hurts" Manny replied, his sore throat and clogged nose making his voice sound raspy "and I ache all over." Shrignold nodded and went to place his hand on the boy's forehead but he flinched back a little with a nervous expression on his face.

"You don't have to be afraid, I am not going to hurt you, I just want to feel your forehead" Shrignold told the child before putting his hand on his forehead "well, you're still burning up but not as much as you where after we found you out in the woods and brought you back here." Exhausted, Manny collapsed back onto the bed but there was a look of confusion on his face.

"I had a really weird dream last night" he rasped "you and the others came in here, you told me that my friends had abandoned me, left me behind."

"That wasn't a dream dear child" Shrignold told Manny "we we're in here last night, you must have been really delirious that you probably thought you were dreaming it."

"So it really did happen then" Manny replied as he coughed a few times before finishing speaking "they really have left me, but I thought they where my friends, I don't understand how they could just leave me behind."

"Well the ones you trust the most can unexpectedly stab you in the back" Shrignold explained as he helped the child sit up, putting his arm around his shoulders "but like we told you last night, you can trust us, me, Paige, Tony, Colin, we're not going to abandon you like those two nobodies that just left this world without even saying goodbye or taking you with them. I bet you must felt really lonely after they left so you ran away in the middle of the night during a storm so that you could find your so called friends, am I right?" Manny slowly nodded followed by a small coughing fit "and now look at you dear child, being out in that storm in the middle of the night has made you sick."

"Where you in here with me all night?" Manny asked, his tired voice still rasping from the sore throat.

"Well I believe that it wouldn't be right to leave you alone, not while you're sick and no one should ever be alone" Shrignold explained "and Tony suggested that one of us should keep an eye on you after we brought you back here and I simply volunteered to do so, I have to say you slept a good few hours after the others came in here to tell you about those so called friends of yours just left you behind." Manny then recalled himself having a really bad coughing fit the previous night after the teachers had brought him back after they found him collapsed in the woods and that someone had turned him on his side so that he didn't choke and began to wonder if it was actually Shrignold who had done that, he wanted to ask but exhaustion was once again beginning to take it's toll on his small body, he still didn't feel very good and he felt his eyes growing heavy.

"So sleepy" he rasped.

"What already?" Shrignold asked with a chuckle "you just woke up, you can't still be tired. Well I guess you do need plenty of sleep if you're sick so you go ahead and have a great big nap, you'll probably feel a little better afterwards." Manny weakly nodded and rested his head on the butterfly man's shoulders who began stroking the child's hair and singing softly.

"Have you ever wondered why we're here? What's it all about? You've no idea, and everywhere you look, all you see is hatred and darkness, death and fear" Shrignold sang softly as Manny's eyes began to flutter as he slowly drifted into slumber "But you know it doesn't have to be, that I hate you, and you hate me, cause even though we're different, it doesn't make a difference and we can live in harmony" Manny was now in a deep sleep and Shrignold gently layed the child down but still sat beside him, watching as the boy's chest slowly rising and falling, a slight wheezing emitting from his mouth caused by his current sickness.

"Don't worry little one" Shrignold told the sleeping child "you'll never be alone ever again."

Chapter Text

When Manny woke up for the second time he found himself laying on the floor in a dark room and everything was eerily quiet until he heard it, the sound of a phone ringing. Groaning, he slowly pulled himself to his feet and followed where the ringing was coming from until he came across a small red phone sitting on the ground at his feet.

"Huh?" he questioned "how did I get here and why is this phone ringing?" the boy crouched down and picked up the receiver and as he put the phone to his ear, he heard a familiar voice on the other end.

"Manny, Manny, are you there?" the voice asked "it's me Harry, you've got to listen very very carefully, you need to get out of there, that place, it's not safe, you have to get out."

"Harry?" Manny asked with a puzzled expression on his face "why did you leave me behind, why did you and Robin leave me behind, I thought you guys where my friends."

"I never meant for this to happen"the voice on the other end of the receiver replied "if they told you that we weren't your friends anymore then they are lying, they're lying to you Manny, me and Robin, we're still your friends and you need to get out of there before it's too late, you see, if you don't get out soon then you'll..." the reciever was snatched from the boy's hand and he looked up to see that Tony was now holding the receiver.

"I would advise you not to call this number again" he warned in a low tone as a still sick and feverish Manny collapsed on the floor but still kept his eyes on the tall clock man who turned to him with a smirk whilst still holding the receiver to his ear "Manny doesn't need you anymore, you and your other pesky friend left him behind without even saying much as a goodbye, I don't think he would want to be your friend after that now would he."

"Put him back on right now you son of a Bitch, he's going to find out sooner or later that you're..." Tony hung up before the voice on the other end got a chance to finish their sentence before crouching down in front of the small child that lay curled up on the ground, barely awake.

"He won't be bothering you anymore" he told Manny, putting his hand on his shoulder "we're your friends Manny, you're true friends and you will never ever leave this place again, we won't allow it, we will not allow our friend to leave us behind." Manny didn't say anything, he only groaned in response as he vision slowly faded and when he woke up again, he found himself back in his room, in his bed and began to wonder if maybe the dark room and the phone call was just some weird dream.

"Oh good, you're finally awake" a voice said from behind the boy who turned around to see Tony and Paige standing at the side of his bed, Paige holding what looked like a medicine bottle.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the object that Paige was holding, his voice still rasping.

"It's your medicine sweetie" Paige replied in a sickly sweet voice, sitting on the edge of the bed "it's to help get rid of that nasty fever you have." Manny grimaced at the thought of having to take some medicine, he always found it to be pretty revolting.

"Why are you pulling that face young man?" Tony questioned when he noticed the disgusted expression on Manny's face.

"Medicine, it's gross" the child implied as Paige put some medicine on the small spoon she was also holding and leaned closer to the boy, urging him to take some

"Well it's your choice, you can stay sick and get worse or you can take some medicine which will make you well again" Tony stated firmly as Manny attempted to pull away but was too weak to do so and all he could do was clamp his mouth shut.

"Open your mouth sweetie" Paige encouraged as she brought the spoon closer but the child shook his head, still keeping his mouth clamped shut refusing to take some despite his head burning with fever, the clogged nose and tight chest which had stemmed from the bad cough he had.

"Why don't you want to take any medicine little one?" Shrignold asked "do you think it tastes bad?" Manny nodded whilst still keeping his mouth clamped shut, fearing that if he opened it, Paige would shove the spoon in his mouth, forcing him to take the revolting stuff "well I do agree, medicine does taste kinda icky but it will get rid of that nasty cough you have and you don't want to stay sick and get worse do you?" Manny shook his head "well why don't you try taking some medicine, it'll help and that cough did sound pretty bad after we brought you back here." After some persuasion, Manny reluctantly opened his mouth and allowed Paige to give him some of the medicine and it did taste quite revolting.

"yeuck" the child responded after the medicine slid down his throat "that tasted icky."

"Here, drink some water, it'll get rid of the taste" Tony said, handing the boy a glass of water who drank some before pressing the cool glass against his still burning head "now that wasn't too bad was it?" Manny shook his head and winced "what's wrong, are you still burning up?"

"I think so" Paige replied as she put her hand on the child's forehead "he's still burning up but not as bad as he was when we found him out in the woods."

"Where was we last night?" Manny asked Tony who gave the child a puzzled expression.

"What are you talking about my boy?" he asked.

"I woke up in a dark room and there was a phone, I heard someone speaking to me at the other end, I think it was one of my friends and then you came along and I fainted before I woke up here again" Manny explained before letting out a handful of coughs as Shrignold patted him on the back.

"I believe you were dreaming, neither of us went to a dark room with any phone in it" Tony explained "and besides, I don't believe your friends would try and contact you, not if they just upped and left without taking you with them, they just left you behind, goes to show how much they care about you." Manny slowly nodded, beginning to accept that the two people he had been living with in this world really did abandoned him but little did he know that this wasn't true, the Teachers where slowly convincing him and making him believe that his two missing friends had just left him behind.

"Well you don't need those two anymore, you've got us now and we're not going anywhere" Paige said "we will never abandon you and i'm sure you're not going to run away again are you."

"There's no point anymore" Manny said sadly "if they don't care about me, then there's no point in running away again, so I guess I'll just have to stay here."

"Well now that's settled we need to make a few rules around here" Tony informed "once you are well enough, you can roam around the house but only if one of us is with you at the same time."

"Why can't I walk around by myself?" Manny questioned.

"You may do so but you will have to ask permission first" Tony replied "also we'll be taking it in turns to stay in this room with you every night and I believe that tonight is my turn." Manny groaned and flopped back down on the bed, he was getting tired of having this bad cold and having to stay in bed, but it had only been a few hours since he fell sick when trying to run away so it would be a least a few days until he recovered.

"Can I go downstairs?" he asked timidly.

"Not just yet" Tony stated as he put his hand on the child's forehead "you're still running a fever, it wouldn't be a good idea for you to be up and walking around just yet, no, I think you'll need to stay in bed for at least a few days until your fever breaks."

"M,kay" Manny groaned.

"So, do you understand about the rules?" Tony asked and Manny gave a small nod "good, now those rules will begin to apply once you have recovered, which reminds me,I think it's time that you had your temperature taken again" he picked up the thermometer that was laying on the bedside table and told Manny to open his mouth and the child immediately obeyed.

"I can see that you're going to be an obedient one" Tony stated "now keep that in your mouth for a few minutes." The boy lay there with the thermometer in his mouth for a few minutes before Tony took it out again and looked at it.

"Is it bad?" Manny asked before coughing again.

"Well your fever's gone down a little since last night but it's still pretty high" Tony explained "so they'll be no getting out of bed for a little while my boy, do I make myself clear?" Manny nodded and let out a huge yawn, the medicine was making him feel sleepy and it wasn't long until the child had drifted off whilst Tony looked at the other two with an evil smirk.

"Looks like the plan is working" he said "it seems that the boy is starting to trust us, it won't be too long now until he completely forgets about those two friends of his and when he does, then we'll break him completely, he'll no longer be the child he is right now."

Chapter Text

A couple of days had passed since Manny had attempted to escape only to fall sick in the process and easily brought back to the house by the teachers and the boy was still bedridden with a fever which had gone down a little during the past few days but was still pretty high and he still had a bad cough which was beginning to loosen up due to him being made to take disgusting tasting medicine to help get rid of it.

"When will this dumb cold go away?" he moaned after having another spoonful of yucky medicine "I'm bored of staying in bed all day."

"Well like we discussed a couple of days ago, you're not to get out of bed until your fever breaks and that nasty cough you have goes away" Tony told him firmly "and if you keep taking the medicine then it'll go away quicker, then you can get out of bed but remember, you're not to venture the house alone unless one of us is with you or you ask permission to do so, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir" Manny replied, staring at the ceiling before turning his head in Tony's direction "but I want to know, why do I have to have somebody with me all the time when I'm going around anywhere?"

"Because that's the way it has to be" Tony replied "now I'm going downstairs to attend to some business and I expect you to stay put, can you do that?"

"I'm kind of tired anyway" Manny replied innocently "I think I'll take a nap."

"Very well if that is what you want to do then by all means, take a nap" Tony said "you're still sick after all so maybe a nap is what you need if you are to recover." With a small nodded, the child closed his eyes and knowing that he wouldn't be bothering him for at least a few hours, Tony left the room and went downstairs but planned on coming back up after he finished doing what he needed to do.

It was almost half an hour when Manny woke up to a churning feeling in his stomach, like he had wanted to throw up and he had the urge to quickly run into the bathroom to do so but knowing that he was forbidden to get out of bed was making the situation more difficult and as the urge to throw up grew stronger and not having anytime to worry about whether he would be punished for getting out of bed or not, the child slowly sat up and climbed out of bed. A huge wave of dizziness swam through him and that made his urge to throw up worsen and despite his still weakened state, dashed to the bathroom and proceeded to throw up.

Once he got back upstairs, Tony went straight to Manny's room only to find that his bed was empty which made him non too pleased, he had strictly ordered the child to stay put but it was obvious that the boy had disobeyed his orders. The only thing to do was to find where he had got to and then teach him a lesson about disobeying his orders and as he was about to do so, he heard a retching that was mixed with a coughing sound coming from the bathroom so he decided to go and investigate and as he got there, he found Manny kneeling in front of the toilet and it was obvious that the child was throwing up and unaware that Tony was leaning against the bathroom door, arms folded, watching as the boy finished throwing up before slowly getting to his feet and beginning to sway which indicated that he was going to pass out so Tony strode into the bathroom and caught the child before he hit the floor.

"Dear me, what are we going to do with you?" he asked, looking at the sick child he was holding, his face now a deathly pale, eyes closed and fluttering before proceeding to carry him back to his room and after he put him back on his bed, Manny opened his eyes by a small fraction but could just make out Tony standing next to his bed, arms folded.

"W-what happened?" the confused boy asked, putting his hand to his head.

"You were throwing up in the bathroom then you passed out" Tony replied "lucky for you though I managed to catch you before you hit the floor. Now I was going to punish you for getting out of bed but seeing as you had a perfectly good reason for doing so then I'll let you off this time." Without saying a word, Manny nodded before closing his eyes again, falling asleep. Knowing that the kid would probably be out for at least a couple of hours, Tony picked up a nearby crossword and sat down at the desk that was at the other end of the room and proceeded to go through the crossword whilst Manny continued sleeping and he was having that weird dream again and he had been having it for the past couple of days, he would wake up to find himself in a dark room and there would be a phone ringing.

"Who keeps calling?" he wonder as he walked through the dark abyss, following the sound until he came across that same red phone that was laying in the middle of this darkened room and every time he answered it, he would hear one of his missing friends on the other end of the line, trying to tell him that he needed to get out of that house but before they could tell him the reason why he needed to get out of there, one of the teachers would always come along and take the receiver from him, telling the person on the other end not to call again and this dream was no different, the child walked towards the red phone, crouched down, picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.

"Hello?"

After spending half an hour working on the crossword, Tony got up from the desk and headed over to Manny's bed but was shocked to discover that it was empty again.

"He better have a good reason for getting out of bed like before but if he hasn't then he'll be in big trouble" he muttered before heading to the bathroom to see if he had gone in there to throw up again but the boy wasn't in there.

"Where the hell did he get to?" he muttered "he better not be trying to runaway again." He was about to look around the house for the kid when Colin came walking up to him, looking rather confused.

"I think you'd better come a see this" he implied.

"I don't have time for mucking around Colin" Tony replied, arms folded "the brat's wondered off somewhere and I need to find him, make sure he hasn't escaped again."

"But that's just it, it's about the kid" Colin replied "I think he's sleepwalking."

"What do you mean, sleepwalking?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well he came downstairs a few minutes ago but he didn't acknowledge that me and the others where down there" Colin explained "it was like he was in his own little world, he just wondered into the kitchen and started speaking into the telephone." after he finished explaining, Colin told Tony to follow him into the kitchen and when they arrived, they saw the Pyjama clad child stood at the other end of the kitchen, holding the receiver to his ear whilst the other teachers stood watching with confusion.

"Hello, who is this?" he asked "who keeps calling, who are you?"

"We don't know what's going on" Paige explained "he just walked in here like he was in some kind of trance and just picked up the phone and started talking into it, but there's no one on the other end." Nodding, Tony strode over to Manny and stood in front of the boy to see that his eyes where closed but there was a confused expression on his face.

"Hello, hello, who are you?" he asked again.

"I think he must have been sleepwalking but it appears he's having a dream too" Tony said "I bet one of his foolish friends must be trying to contact him, trying to get him to leave this world."

"I hope you don't mind if I asked a question" Shrignold implied "but if one of the other two is trying to contact him, why doesn't he know who they are?"

"I think" Tony began "maybe he's beginning to forget about his friends, it's only a matter of time until he'll forget them completely and soon, he'll begin to trust us, he won't even think or speak of them again." Tony then grinned evilly as he watched the child continue speaking in the phone, calling out to whoever was speaking despite the fact that he was just dreaming and that no one was actually on the other end.

Chapter Text

A couple of minutes passed and Manny's arm dropped to his side and the phone receiver fell from his hand, dangling from the cord and the teachers watched as the child fell to his knees, indicating that he was still asleep.

"Well, now what?" Colin asked as Tony walked in front of Manny and crouched down to examine the kid, seeing that he still have his eyes shut, he was still sleeping.

"I say we wake him up" he suggested "ask him if this whole sleep walking thing has happened before."

"No don't do that" Shrignold replied "you're not supposed to wake someone if they're sleepwalking."

"Alright then genius, what's your suggestion?" Tony asked in a sarcastic tone "just let him wonder round in his sleep, possibly escape again, if he wakes up and finds himself outside, he might try and run away again."

"Just watch and learn my friend, watch and learn" replied Shrignold with a cheeky smirk before walking over to where Manny was still sitting and gently helped him to his feet "come along now little one, let's get you back into bed."

"Wha..?" Manny asked groggily, opening his eyes a little as Shrignold led him back to his room, keeping hold of his hand "somebody, phone, talking."

"No one was speaking on the phone child, you were dreaming" Shrignold told the boy who seemed to stir a little as he was lead back into his room, only to fall asleep again after he was put back to bed.

"So, what do we do now?" Paige questioned "if he ends up sleepwalking again, he could leave the house."

"We keep a closer eye on him from now on" said Tony, not taking his eyes of Manny "there could be chance that if he was to go sleepwalking again, he could leave the house like you suggested and if he wakes up and finds himself outside, he could try escaping again, he could still try attempting to find his friends, he'll probably think they still care about him."

"Not if we keep on convincing him that they don't" Colin pointed out "and it did seem like he couldn't remember them, when he was speaking on the phone just a few minutes ago." Just then, there came a small groan and the teacher's looked to see that Manny was beginning to wake up so they walked over to his bed and stood round it as his eyes began to open, a look of confusion on his face.

"What's going on?" he asked when he noticed that the teachers were all standing round his bed "am I in trouble?"

"No, you're not in trouble" Paige replied, sitting on the side of his bed "we just wanted to ask you something, it's about you sleepwalking?"

"What are you talking about?" the little kid asked with a confused expression "was I sleepwalking?" the teachers nodded.

"Has this ever happened before?" Tony questioned "this whole sleepwalking thing?"

"Sometimes, but I can't remember anything about it after, just that I go to sleep in my bed and the next thing I'm waking up somewhere else" Manny replied "but if I went sleepwalking, then why am I back in my bed, why haven't I woken up somewhere else like the other times I been sleepwalking?"

"That's because I lead you back in here after we found you in the kitchen talking on the phone, even though there wasn't anybody on the phone" Shrignold explained as a look of confusion spread across the child's face.

"But, there was someone on the phone and I was in that dark room" he said "I heard someone talking to me on the other end, but I couldn't remember them, I can't remember who it was, but their voice, it sounded familiar but I can't remember what they looked like or what their name was, why is this happening?"

"Well you know what I think" Tony replied "I think that you're mind is beginning to accept the fact that those so called friends of yours just abandoned you and want to forget about them all together and I think that it's for the best, if you just forget about them completely, after all, who wants to remember someone who just leaves you behind without so much as a goodbye." Manny nodded and began to accept the fact that maybe it would be for the best, he couldn't run away now, not if he had no one else to run to and he was still sick with a cold and the weather outside was still wet and cold which meant that his current condition could worsen if he did attempt a second escape attempt, making him too weak to go any further and the teachers would have been able to bring him back easily. Over the next couple of days, Manny slowly recovered and was well enough to get out of bed but he was still forbidden to venture the house alone unless he had one of the teachers with him so he spent most of the time in his room and the teachers would take it in turns to sleep in the room with him on a night time to make sure he didn't try and escape.

"Well your fever seems to be going down nicely" Tony said after taking his temperature "are you feeling any better in yourself?"

"I do a little" the child replied "my head doesn't feel burny anymore."

"So it shouldn't, seeing as that nasty fever you had is starting to break" Tony said "you've had it easy the past few days but now that you've almost recovered things won't be so easy now, you do remember the rule don't you, about not venturing the house alone unless you ask permission or I or one of the other teachers is accompanying you?" Manny nodded "good, now just stick to those rules and we won't have any problems will we?"

"No sir" Manny replied.

"Good" Tony replied before looking at his watch "oh would you look at the time, I think it's bedtime for you young man, what do you think?"

"Do I have to?" Manny complained but when he saw the stern look that Tony was giving him, he decided not to protest any further and immediately got into bed and fell asleep almost straight away and satisfied that the kid had obeyed, Tony decided to read one of his Dr who novels before turning in himself.

It was almost Seven Am when Manny woken up to a grumbling feeling in his stomach, since he had eaten for the past few days due to his sickness, he could only guess that his appetite was beginning to come back and he wanted to go downstairs to get some food but he knew that he wasn't allowed to walk around the house alone unless he asked permission or had one of the teachers with him. As the grumbling in his stomach grew louder, the child looked over at Tony who was asleep in one of the other beds, snoring lightly and considered asking him if he could go to the kitchen to make something to eat but he didn't want to wake him, fearing that he would be angry if he had woken him so early but he was finding it impossible to ignore to grumbling in his empty stomach, he was in desperate need of food, maybe if he could just quickly go downstairs and make a quick sandwich and head back up before Tony woke up then he would be fine and without hesitation, he quietly snuck out of the room and downstairs, constantly checking over his shoulder and listening for any sounds before slowly heading into the kitchen which was empty.

"Okay, maybe if I just make a sandwich and eat it down here pretty quick, I could head back to bed before Tony wakes up and notices that I'm gone" he mumbled to himself before getting out a couple slices of bread before climbing onto the kitchen counter to see what was in the cupboard that he could put on his sandwich and found some jam so he decided to use that on his sandwich.

"I like jam" he said to himself with a grin as he grabbed hold of it and slowly began to pull it out of the cupboard.

"And just what do you think you are doing young man?." The angry voice of Tony had startled the boy that he lost his footing and fell from the counter, hitting his head on the tiled floor as he landed and searing pain spread through his head and black dots swam in his vision as Tony stood over him, glaring.

"Owww" Manny whimpered as he slowly sat up, his vision how doubled so it looked as if there was two Tony's glaring at him.

"Get upstairs now" he ordered, his glare hardening "I'll be up to deal with you in a minute." Still clutching his head, Manny got to his feet and headed straight upstairs, tripping a few times as his injury was making him unsteady on his feet and once he was back in his room, he sat on his bed and began rubbing the area on his head that had been hit when he fell.

"I guess I shouldn't have gone downstairs after all" he muttered to himself and knowing that he was in big trouble now made the child scared, he knew that Tony could be capable of anything if he was angry and in a state of panic, he decided to hide under his bed, he would always hide whenever he was in trouble and just as he managed to shuffle himself under and conceal himself, the door opened and he heard Tony's voice.

"Alright young man, where are you?" he asked "I don't have the time or patience for your silly little games, hiding won't get you out of trouble so either you come out now and face the consequences for your actions." The pain in his head was making Manny feel dizzy but he wasn't too worried about that now, he was far too concerned about Tony finding him and possibly giving him a much worse punishment for hiding instead of facing up to his actions. feeling more and more lightheaded from his injury, the child watched as Tony's feet stood next to his bed, just barely inches away from his face.

"I know you are in this room somewhere and I've checked every possible hiding place" he implied "I guess that leaves only one place, under your bed." Watching as Tony's hand reached out to pull the cover up, Manny's vision began to grow blurry and darken until he lost consciousness completely.

Chapter Text

As his senses slowly came back to him, Manny's head was fuzzy and he could feel himself laying on something soft, his vision was blurry but he could just make out a tall figure standing over him, speaking to him but he could not understand what they were saying as his mind was foggy and his head was pounding, the last thing he remembered was falling from the kitchen counter and hitting his head after Tony caught him before hiding under his bed and passing out and the figure leaned closer to the boy before his vision faded again and he passed out for a second time.

With a small groan, the boy slowly opened his eyes, his vision still blurry but as it slowly came into focus, he realized that he was no longer under his bed but instead laying on top, his head hurt and it felt like everything was spinning.

"Well, it's about time" a voice said from nearby and with a small whimper, Manny slowly turned his head to see Tony sitting on one of the other beds in the room looking rather bored and annoyed "I was begining to get bored of waiting for you to regain consciousness."

"What happened?" Manny asked, he felt groggy and his body felt too weak to even sit up.

"Well to put it simply, I found you passed out under your bed" Tony replied "you've been out for at least four hours, well, now that you've finally regained consciousness I think it's time to talk about your disobedience, don't you?" Manny eyed him with a confused expression "oh don't you remember, you went downstairs without permission and after I found you standing on the kitchen counter you fell and hit your head then I found you laying unconscious under your bed so I simply pulled you out and put you to bed then waited for you to wake up so I can discuss what punishment is appropriate."

"I'm sorry" Manny replied groggily.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it young man" Tony replied sternly, watching as the small child drifted in and out "you disobeyed the rules so now you must be punished and by that you will not venture this house alone unless me or any of the other teachers are with you and you will no longer have permission to do so even if you ask, do I make my self clear?" with a small whimper, Manny nodded "good, now I've put some pain killers and glass of water on your bedside table, take them and you'll feel better." Using all his strength, Manny slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position and took the two pain killers that were on his bedside table and washed them down with the glass of water before laying back down on the bed.

"What time is it?" Manny asked, rubbing the spot on his head where he had hit it.

"It's ten minutes past Eleven o Clock" Tony replied "you were unconscious for about four hours, you're possibly concussed also and why on earth where you standing on the kitchen counter in the first place?"

"I was hungry" Manny replied innocently "I would have asked you first but I was scared you would be angry with me for waking you up so early."

"Yes you do have a point there, you should have waited until I woke up instead of disobeying the rules" Tony replied sternly "and seeing as you cannot abide by the rules, you will spend your whole time in your room, you will not leave this room until either me or any of the other teachers come to let you out and I will be the one who will decide whether you can come downstairs or not, do I make myself clear?"

"I already said I was sorry" Manny replied, still feeling a little groggy from the bump to his head.

"Yes well sometimes, sorry isn't good enough" Tony replied in the same stern manner "and if you dare to disobey the rules again, you will be getting a much far worse punishment, understand?" Manny nodded "good, now get some rest, I'll send one of the other teachers up to check on you later." He then got up and left the room, locking the door behind him so that Manny couldn't get out and he laid on his side, curling up in a ball and wishing that he had never gone downstairs in the first place. He stayed in the same position until he fell asleep and that was when the constant dream he had been having started again, he was once again standing in the middle of a dark room only this time, instead of a ringing phone, there was a voice calling out to him, calling his name.

"Who's there?" he asked, the voice sounded so familiar but he couldn't remember who the voice belonged to.

"Manny, I'm over here" the voice replied and curiously tilting his head to the side, the child began to follow where the voice was coming from and as he walked further and further through the dark void, he saw a tall figure in the distance and as he got closer, he saw that the person had long red hair and was wearing red clothes.

"Who, who are you?" Manny asked with pure confusion on his face.

"It's me, Harry" the stranger spoke as Manny still had a look of confusion on his face "don't you remember me?" Manny looked at the stranger, growing more and more confused, shaking his head.

"I don't know you, I'm sorry" he replied, slowly backing away as the stranger that called itself Harry began walking towards the confused child.

"Manny, what's wrong, why don't you remember me?" he asked as Manny continued to back away further "have they done something to you, is that why you don't remember me" Manny continued to back away, his expression still nervous "listen to me Manny, whatever they've been telling you, it's not true, they're not your friends, me and Robin, we're you're real friends." Growing more and more scared, Manny turned around and broke into a run, running further and further until the dark void began to fade and he found himself back in his room, back in his bed and realized it was another one of those dreams he had been having.

"Having a nightmare?" Manny sat up and saw Paige sitting at the end of his bed "you feeling better dear, Tony said you fell of the kitchen counter and hit your head when he caught you in there this morning, he said that he found you hiding under your bed and that you were passed out and didn't wake up for another four hours."

"My head still hurts a little but I'm ok" the child replied "why are you here?"

"Well Tony asked me to come check on you and that if you're feeling up to it, you can come downstairs, he thinks that you've been couped in in here long enough" Paige replied.

"I want to go downstairs" he replied.

"Okay then you can come down with me, but you know the rules, don't go wondering alone anywhere unless someone is with you" Paige told him firmly but gently before offering her hand and with a little hesitation, Manny took it and she helped him off the bed and as they left the room, he began to wonder who the stranger was from his dream, how did he know Manny and what exactly did he want with him?